Gargoyles by Thomas Bernhard

Gargoyles by Thomas Bernhard

The playwright and novelist Thomas Bernhard was one of the most widely translated and admired writers of his generation, winner of the three most coveted literary prizes in Germany. Gargoyles, one of his earliest novels, is a singular, surreal study of the nature of humanity.

One morning a doctor and his son set out on daily rounds through the grim mountainous Austrian countryside. They observe the colorful characters they encounter--from an innkeeper whose wife has been murdered to a crippled musical prodigy kept in a cage--coping with physical misery, madness, and the brutality of the austere landscape. The parade of human grotesques culminates in a hundred-page monologue by an eccentric, paranoid prince, a relentlessly flowing cascade of words that is classic Bernhard.

Thomas Bernhardt studied Business Administration, Law, and International Relations after being born in Hohenems, Austria, in 1972. He has worked in industry in Europe, North America, and Asia since 1996, holding several General Management positions. The author graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science's Executive Master of Science degree in International Strategy and Diplomacy in 2018.